Details of A Day



Details of A Day... photos: karen holmes



"We are important and our lives are important,

magnificent really, and their details are worthy to be recorded."

- Natalie Goldberg

Today, after picking up my mail, I decided to walk the couple of blocks to revisit one of my favorite meditation gardens. Open to the public, the serenity of this place begins the minute your toe meets the first step up to the walkways that are embellished with splashes of color, light playing with the shadows, and soft scents of cared for earth mingling with the ocean breezes. I thought I would simply share some of the details that seemed magnificent to me... and worthy of being recorded...





Being Quiet

Being Quiet

Photograph by: Karen Holmes

"The quieter you become,

the more you are able to hear."

-Zen Saying

We all fall into life patterns - some of those patterns serve us well for a long time and then we simply outgrow them. I used to like to come home, kick off my shoes and settle in with a cup of tea to watch the evening news. Recently, I have begun to break that habit by beginning to separate myself from the broadcasted devastations that offer little balance of goodness. Perhaps the commotion of life in general is granting me an invitation to wander off into places that allow me to become quiet, and more able to hear and recognize the goodness that does exist.

One thing that offers me calm, is to sit on the shore and watch surfers - their balance, grace, regard for nature, and their practiced peaceful waiting between waves, simply reminds me and inspires me to take time to welcome the quiet.

Today, I wish you pockets of peace and quiet that allow you to get in touch more fully with the goodness in your life...

My Rose

My Rose

Photograph by: Karen Holmes

"Of course an ordinary passerby would think my rose looked just like you. But my rose, all on her own, is more important than you altogether, since she's the one I've watered. Since she's the one I put under glass. Since she's the one I sheltered behind a screen. Since she's the one for whom I killed the caterpillars (except for two or three for butterflies). Since she's the one I listened to when she complained, or when she boasted, or even sometimes when she said nothing at all.
Since she's my rose."

"It is the time you have lost for your rose that makes your rose so important."

- Antoine de Saint-Exupery (La Petit Prince)



Morning Glory!

Good Morning Glory!

Photographs by: Karen Holmes

Happy Easter!

 

Easter Grace

Simple Hope

Photograph by: Karen Holmes

"Only those who look with the eyes of children

can lose themselves in the object of their wonder."

- Eberhard Arnold

The sweetness of a child looking upon a grouping of stuffed bunnies and finding the one that calls to them in a silent heart-voice that makes them say: "That one is the one I want to take home with me." And into the dark night, tucked deep in downy calm, and as the morning's golden light softly slips through the window, the bunny simply brings comfort and listens... and there lives love... 

And isn't that also the simple grace of Easter? We choose God and bring Him home... we feel the comfort of forgiveness...we are heard... and there lives love...

Wishing you Easter Grace...